


Of fiction, friends and lovers

by lokilenchen



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Firefighter Jim, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Med student Leonard, Online Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23827183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokilenchen/pseuds/lokilenchen
Summary: Leonard McCoy was a med student, starting his residency in two weeks and using his free time to write fanfic.Never had he thought that this would lead to a great friendship, let alone for him to fall in love with the man named Jim behind the messages. A man he had not even seen, yet.Fills the Internet friends square of my Leonard McCoy Bingo Card.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Comments: 17
Kudos: 68
Collections: Leonard McCoy Bingo





	Of fiction, friends and lovers

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for beta reading [AccidentallyObsessed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AccidentallyObsessed) you are a real angel!

The last thing people would call Leonard was ‘ordinary’. The people who didn’t know him called him a nerd, which really wasn’t that far from the truth. His professors called him outstanding, a genius in the medical field. Still, Leonard was like all the other medical students; he studied as much as the others, maybe even more, only living off coffee and a few hours of sleep every night. He was just younger than all the others, having skipped a few years in high school, now 23 and starting his residency in two weeks.

All this to say that he didn’t have many friends, two to be exact. His roommate and fellow med student Geoff, and Christine who was studying to become a nurse. They always tried to get him under people with little to no success. He rather spent the little free time he had writing fanfiction.

Now that Leonard had finished all his exams, he had some down time, using it to work on his newest fic. Already immersed in his new story he at first didn’t see the notification. He’d gotten a message from an unknown person.

Finally noticing the message, he got curious as to who could possibly be writing to him personally on his online writing profile.

‘Hey there talented writer, I just read some of your stories and I had the need to tell you just how much I liked them’  
‘My name is Jim by the way’

Reading the lines, Leonard felt his heartbeat increasing, never once had he gotten a personal compliment for his writing. 

He read the lines a few more times before deciding on what to answer.

‘Hi Jim, I really don’t know what to say, thanks for writing to me. Name is McCoy. Leonard McCoy.’

He quickly hit the send button, because otherwise he would end up not answering at all. It took a few minutes before another message. 

‘Good to know that I’m now officially allowed to write to you.’  
‘Well….I would have continued to write to you even without your permission.’

‘You a stalker or something?’

‘No, just interested in the man behind the stories, but your name is really Leonard? That’s an old man's name, I’ll need to give you a nickname.’  
‘...unless you are an old man.’

‘I’m not an old man and I like my actual name just fine, no need to give me a ridiculous nickname.’

Leonard wasn’t sure how this conversation turned to some crazy nickname search, but as much as he hated nicknames he couldn’t wait to get one from Jim.

‘Just so you know it won’t be a ridiculous nickname, it’ll be fitting, so tell me something about yourself.’

Even though they were just chatting a few minutes, Leonard felt like telling Jim everything about him. Somehow he knew he could trust him.

‘Fine… I’m a med student at the University of Mississippi, starting my residency in two weeks. I’m 23, so not an old man. In fact, I’m a Georgia gentleman, born and raised in Atlanta. Anything more you need to know you little bickering shit?’

‘Impressive, so I’m writing with a real southern gentleman here, though calling me a little shit is not very gentleman-like, besides I’m not little in any place.’

Reading this Leonard couldn’t contain the eyeroll, please don’t let this be some kind sexdrived teenager writing him.

‘Just how old are you, kid?’

‘I’m 22 so no kid, Bones.’

‘Bones?!’

‘Yup from sawbones, you are a doctor after all and it fits better than Leonard.’

‘Good god how did you come up with that one?’

‘I’m just a genius like that, are you impressed now?’

‘Hardly. Is there anything else I need to know about you, genius?’

‘Nah, otherwise I’m modest, I’m just a farm boy from Iowa seaking out adventures in the big world.’

‘Haven’t heard of any farm boys going on adventures, from my experience they’re usually content staying put.’

‘Iowa never held me, adventures make life more livable, you should try to go on one from time to time. You sound like a grumpy old man and you’re barely older than me.’

If someone were to come into the room now, he would definitely see Leonard glaring at the damn laptop, muttering curses under his breath because this guy was already bringing his blood pressure up way too high. 

‘Adventures bring the people in the ER, I’ve patched up more than enough adventurous people.’

‘You’re no fun, Bones.’

‘I’m great fun, darlin’, just in my own comfort zone’

‘I’ll get you out of your comfort zone in no time, Bonesy.’

‘That a promise?’

‘Only if you want it to be, babe. Just wait and see.’

Leonard liked where this was going, he hadn’t had such an interesting conversation in ages. The blush that covered his face and the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, were signs of just that.

Still being totally lost in the messages Jim was sending, Geoff suddenly came bursting into their shared dorm. “Len, what have you been doing? Please don’t tell me you're writing these stories again, Chris and I have been searching for you all over the place.”

Slamming his laptop shut he turned an even darker crimson, as if he had done something forbidden by chatting with Jim.

“Where should I have been? I’m just fine with staying here, actually more than fine with staying here,” he grumbled, annoyed that he’d been disturbed.

“You should be in the park with all of the other students, we wrote our last exam a couple of days ago, in two weeks we'll start our residency. You, of all people, should be out there. You’ve been awarded more than one doctor title, you are working on a surgical procedure no one else thought about and each and every hospital wants you. So we should celebrate that and now get out of that seat or I’m dragging you out there.” 

“Fine,” Leonard remarked, getting up, sending one last longing look over his shoulder to his laptop, and the conversation within it, before going out after Geoff.

He actually ended up drinking something with Geoff and Christine and the rest of the students, indeed having some fun. Leonard still made his way back to his room rather early, not wanting to wake up hungover and hoping that he could get back to his conversation with Jim.

Reaching his room, he took place at his desk and was soon typing the answer he had formulated in his head over and over again.

‘Sorry, I couldn’t answer any sooner, my roommate dragged me out to some party in the park.’

‘So you got out of your comfort zone after all, I’m just sad that it was without me.’

‘Don’t believe that you got something to do with me getting out of my comfort zone and just so you know the party was no fun.’

‘You simply have no idea of fun.’

‘I’m sure you’ve read my idea of fun.’

‘I definitely have, but I have some ideas to help you improve your writing.’

Leonard was staring at the screen of his laptop in shock, was this guy really flirting with him. This was too good to be true, nobody had flirted with him in a long time, he was just the grumpy nerd nobody wanted to spend time with. Considering that Jim hadn’t seen him yet, the flirting would sure as hell stop when he saw him.

‘I just need to make sure I get this right, are you flirting with me?’ He had to make sure he was not just imagining it.

‘Thanks for noticing, I think it was pretty obvious.’

‘Not many people have been flirting with me in a long time, darlin’, I might be a little rusty.’

‘You don’t seem out of practise though, wooing me by calling me darling. If I didn’t need to go to bed right now, I would show you some of my best wooing skills.’

Having moved from his former spot on his desk to his more comfortable bed, Leonard felt content. Happy, even.

‘That's too bad, I’ll be thinking about you all night.’

With a smile on his face he sat his laptop aside and fell asleep, dreaming about Jim, a man he hadn’t even met.

\---

After that, he was woken in the morning, on more than one occasion, by a cheerful message from Jim. 

‘How can you be so damn happy in the morning this is unnatural.’

‘I’m just a ray of sunshine at all times of the day.’

‘Unbelievable.’

‘Have you decided where you’re gonna do your residency just yet?’

‘Either Enterprise or Hopkins, not sure yet, but I need to decide soon.’

‘Enterprise is great, been there a few times.’

‘Sure you have. Hey Jim, you never actually told me what your job is.’

‘Well I save lives, too. I’m a firefighter.’

‘No wonder you’ve seen the Enterprise from the inside, more than a few times.’

It sounded like Jim was trying to get him to go to San Francisco and it was working, it was tempting to move to a city where a possible new lover or at least a new friend lived. Still, he needed some more time to decide.

\---

Jim was sitting in the lounge at the fire department, another day writing with Bones. 

“Kirk, please tell me you’re not reading these smutty stories again, I don’t want to see you with a boner sitting in the ready room.” Nyota came sliding next to him on the couch.

“I’m not reading fanfiction, just so you know,” Jim said while carefully closing his laptop, so she could not see the conversation at hand. 

”Then what are you up to?” She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at him.

“Nothing really, what is it with you guys and always thinking I’m planning something,” Jim gave a mild protest.

“You have this dangerous grin on your face and this glint in your eyes, that usually means you’ll either end up on fire or with yet another injury, and that’s something we really don’t need right now.”

“Uhura calm down, I’m just chatting with someone, I’m not planning on hurting myself.”

“You never plan on hurting yourself, but you always end up managing it by running in a building, which is about to collapse or any other stupid thing like this.”

“I’m just saving some lives and it’s fun.’

He shot a stern look at Uhura, truly wanting to go back to the conversation with Bones. Everyone flirted with him just because of his looks, Bones didn’t even know what he looked like and they were still having fun.

The urge he felt to open his laptop got the better of him and he ended up looking at whatever Bones had answered despite Nyota still sitting next to him. Jim could practically feel Nyota reading over his shoulder. He looked over at her and a smile covered her face.

“You like him,” she stated, “And you haven’t even seen him, yet.”

“Maybe I do,” he answered truthfully. 

Getting up again and patting his shoulder she made her way back out of the room. “Don’t ruin it,” she called over her shoulder before disappearing.

\---

‘Hey Bones, what should someone do with a cut on their arm that’s bleeding through a bandage? Asking for a friend.’

‘Dammit Jim, what did you do?’

‘Alright, maybe I got hit by a brick.’ 

‘Get your ass to the hospital, I’m pretty sure you need stitches.’

If he hadn’t been after the other few harmless injuries, Leonard was now sure that he had to move to San Francisco, otherwise this reckless man would sure as hell die. He wouldn’t even have gone to the hospital if Leonard hadn’t told him to... more than once.

\---

Over the following few days their chatting continued from simple small talk to heavy flirting. And he decided on finally telling Jim about his decision to take the job at the Enterprise clinic.

‘I decided to work at the Enterprise clinic, they’ll even pay my move, I just have to leave as soon as I’m finished with med school, so at the end of the week.’

‘Good choice, especially because I live there and we can finally meet up.’

‘We sure can. if you don’t end up in my ER first.’

‘You’re mean, Bones. I’m not hurt that often.’

‘Are you out of your corn fed mind? In the nearly two weeks we’ve been friends, you’ve been hurt more often than not.’

‘Now you’re just cruel.’

‘Someone has to be.’ Yes, Leonard already saw himself patching up Jim several times, damn firefighters were always damn reckless idiots.

‘Just so you know I’m sticking my tongue out at you.’ 

The statement made Leonard laugh. A full belly laugh ripping through him, it sounded through the small room, making Geoff eye him sceptically. Imagining Jim sticking out his tongue at a screen, maybe even in a room full of firefighters, was hilarious. 

‘Manchild’ He typed, still laughing.

‘I’m your manchild.’

‘To your luck and my misfortune, you are.’

\---

The conversation with Jim made the week finish in no time and all too soon he was taking his oath that made him an actual medical doctor.

‘Jim I made it, I’m an actual doctor now.’

‘Congratulations, go celebrate.’

‘I can’t, remember I’m moving to San Francisco.’

‘Then we’ll celebrate as soon as you start working. When do you start working?’

‘Tuesday.’

‘It’s a date, tell me when you know at what time your shift ends.’

How could his day get any better? He was finally a real doctor, the charming man behind the messages wanted to go on a date with him and in a few days he would be working in one of the best hospitals in the country.

\---  
It was his first day of work and it started as always, with another message from Jim.

‘Morning, Bones, are you ready for your first day at work?’

‘This is what I worked towards for years, I’m ready to be doing more than looking at small cuts.’

‘Do you already know when your shift will end?’

‘Around 6, don’t be late.’

‘I won’t be, I could never be late to our first date.’

‘I’ll see you then, otherwise I’ll be late for work.’

The next time he was able to take a look on his laptop was during a short break between patients. He there saw a message from Jim sent half an hour ago.

‘Bones, what should someone do if they had a few bleeding cuts and a bruised, slightly swollen leg.’

‘My god Jim you can’t be serious, get your ass to the hospital now.’ Leonard was still staring at the screen, but there was no answer coming.

“Doctor McCoy we need you, bed five,” a nurse called him out of his haze.

“Dammit,” he muttered under his breath, taking the file from the nurse.

Still grumbling, Leonard made his way over to the bed, reading the medical file. “I’m doctor Leonard McCoy, your physician.”

“Bones?!”

Looking up from the file in his hands he found himself looking into the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

“Jim,” he breathed, this beautiful man before him was who he has been chatting with for over two weeks now.

“Bones! You look even hotter than I imagined,” Jim said, a smirk covering his face.

“Me? Your file says nothing about a head injury, you sure you didn’t hit your head as well.”

“This is just a scratch. If a hot doctor like you would kiss me better I’ll be out of your hair in a few.” An even brighter grin was covering the blond’s face. By now Leonard was the color of a tomato, he wasn’t used to this kind of conversation.

“This is all but a scratch, you have several cuts that definitely need stitches and your leg could be broken,” he was hardly holding back at shouting at Jim, “And stop the damn flirting, I can’t concentrate like this, save it for our date.”

\---

“You gotta be kidding. You’re telling me that the best surgeon in the country and the chief of the fire station met because of fanfiction?” Hikaru stopped Leonard in telling the story of how he and Jim had met not believing what Leonard was saying.

“Yes we did,” Jim told Hikaru, “Just so you know how it ended, my leg was not broken and, much to Bones’ protest, we had our first date the same evening and many more after that, until I proposed and here we are.”

“Yeah, here we are.” Leonard looked at their intertwined hands and the wedding bands sitting on his and Jim’s hands. A smile was covering his face at the memory of how it all started.


End file.
